Systems and methods for building wireless mesh networks

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a system comprising a set of wireless communication nodes that are configured to operate as part of a wireless mesh network. Each respective wireless communication node may be directly coupled to at least one other wireless communication node via a respective short-hop wireless link, and at least a first pair of wireless nodes may be both (a) indirectly coupled to one another via a first communication path that comprises one or more intermediary wireless communication nodes and two or more short-hop wireless links and (b) directly coupled to one another via a first long-hop wireless link that provides a second communication path between the first pair of wireless communication nodes having a lesser number of hops than the first communication path. A fiber access point may be directly coupled to a first wireless communication node of the set of wireless communication nodes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to: (i) U.S. patent application Ser.No. 16/563,564, filed Sep. 6, 2019, and entitled “Systems and Methodsfor Building Wireless Mesh Networks,” (ii) U.S. Provisional App. No.62/787,631, filed Jan. 2, 2019, and entitled “Methods for BuildingWireless Mesh Network for a Service Provider,” (iii) U.S. ProvisionalApp. No. 62/780,715, filed Dec. 17, 2018, and entitled “Methods forBuilding Wireless Mesh Network with Wired Links,” (iv) U.S. ProvisionalApp. No. 62/778,193, filed Dec. 11, 2018, and entitled “Methods forBuilding Wireless Mesh Network,” (v) U.S. Provisional App. No.62/770,456, filed Nov. 21, 2018, and entitled “Methods for BuildingWireless Mesh Network,” and (vi) U.S. Provisional App. No. 62/727,753,filed Sep. 6, 2018, and entitled “Methods for Designing Wireless MeshNetwork,” each of which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

Wired and wireless networking and communications systems are widelydeployed to provide various types of communication and functionalfeatures, including but not limited to those for interne data services,security and automation, and/or others. These systems may be capable ofsupporting communication with a user through a communication connectionor a system management action.

Current wireless mesh network design approaches face many challenges.For instance, due to relatively short length of a wireless link mainlydue to use of millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum, a large number of hopsof point-to-point (ptp) or point-to-multipoint (ptmp) links are requiredto connect end customers to the core network or data center. Thisresults in requirement of a large number of wireless mesh network nodesto cover a medium to large size coverage area. Each wireless meshnetwork node hosting a single or multiple ptp/ptmp mmWave communicationequipment requires uninterrupted supply of power for operations. Almostevery wireless mesh network node not only carries data of its own enduser (e.g., customer at the node location) but also carries data ofother wireless mesh network nodes. Hence interruption in power supply toone wireless mesh network node can impact multiple wireless mesh networknodes.

In particular, next generation wireless networks, such as 5G wirelessnetworks, differ from most of the previous generation wireless networksmainly due to the introduction of millimeter wave spectrum fortransmission of information carrying electromagnetic signals for highcapacity communication links. These signals at millimeter wave frequencyexperience high free space propagation loss, high building andvegetation penetration loss. Current 5G wireless mesh network designapproaches face many of the same challenges noted above. For instance,due to relatively short length of a wireless link mainly due to use ofmillimeter wave spectrum, a large number of hops of point-to-point orpoint-to-multipoint links are required to connect end customer to thecore network. Hence a large number of anchor sites are required to hostthe mmWave and other wireless frequency equipment required to establishthose point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and cellular links of thenetwork.

Accordingly, there exists multiple needs in the art for improved systemsand methods relating to wireless communication mesh network design.

OVERVIEW

The present disclosure, for example, relates to wireless networks andcommunications including, but not limited to, broadband interne servicesto end user, security and/or automation systems, as well as wirelessmesh networking and related operations and techniques.

In one aspect, disclosed herein are systems and methods that relate towireless (e.g., narrow beam) mesh networks, associated systems, andoperations relating to network communication, including, in someembodiments, adjustments and modifications. The disclosed systems andmethods may facilitate designing, operating and/or adjusting/modifyingwireless networking communications. In some embodiments, the disclosedsystems and methods relate to and account for wireless communicationnodes that are capable of establishing point-to-point extremely narrowbeam communication link, point-to-point steerable extremely narrow beamcommunication link, point-to-point multiple extremely narrow beamcommunication link, point-to-multipoint narrow beam communication links,ultra-wide-band point-to-point communication link and a combination ofpoint-to-point and point-to-multipoint communication links, among otherpossibilities.

In another aspect, disclosed herein are systems and methods that relateto the design of millimeter wave mesh networks, associated systems, andoperations relating to network communication, including, in someembodiments, adjustments and modifications. In some embodiments, thedisclosed systems and methods relate to and account for designing andconstructing a wireless mesh network with one or more of (1) long hoplinks, (2) short hop links, or (3) high capacity long hop links.

In accordance with the present disclosure, a long hop link may takevarious forms. In some embodiments, a long hop link can be apoint-to-point millimeter wave-based link between two locations thathave a line-of-sight path for the millimeter waves to propagate. Indifferent embodiments, a long hop link can be a point-to-multipointmillimeter wave-based link between locations that have a line-of-sightpath for the millimeter wave to propagate.

Similarly, a short hop link may take various forms. In one embodiment, ashort hop link can be a point-to-point millimeter wave-based linkbetween two locations that have a line-of-sight path for the millimeterwaves to propagate. In another embodiment, a short hop link can bepoint-to-multipoint millimeter wave-based link between locations thathave a line-of-sight path for the millimeter waves to propagate.

Likewise, a high capacity long hop link may take various forms. In someembodiments, a high capacity long hop link can be a point-to-pointmillimeter wave-based link between two locations that have aline-of-sight path for the millimeter waves to propagate. In differentembodiments, a high capacity long hop link can be a point-to-multipointmillimeter wave-based link between locations that have a line-of-sightpath for the millimeter wave to propagate.

In other embodiments, there can also be partial line-of-sight ornon-line-of-sight path for long hop links, short hop links, and highcapacity long hop links. In some embodiments, a long hop link's lengthcan be larger than short hop link's length. For example, a long hop linkcan be 600 meters or greater in length whereas a short hop link can be300 meters or less in length. In other embodiments, long hop links andshort hop links can take a different value that can be greater or lessthan 600 meters and 300 meters, respectively. In some embodiments, highcapacity long hop links can be 1000 meters or greater in length.

In some embodiments, long hop links provide redundant paths for datatraffic flow between an end-user and the core network that improves amesh network's reliability and adds resilience to the mesh networkagainst link failures due to change in the line-of-sight path,hardware/equipment failures, etc. In another embodiment, long hop linksin a wireless mesh network reduce the latency or packet delay byreducing the total number of hops required to send data packets from anend-user to the core network or vice versa. In some embodiments, highcapacity long hop links provide redundant paths for data traffic flowbetween an end-user and the core network that improves a mesh network'sreliability and adds resilience to the mesh network against linkfailures due to change in the line-of-sight path, hardware/equipmentfailures, and the like, as well as increasing the overall capacity ofthe mesh network. In another embodiment, high capacity long hop links ina wireless mesh network reduces the latency or packet delay by reducingthe total number of hops required to send data packets from an end-userto the core network or vice versa.

In another embodiment, long hop links and short hops links can be usedto create a mesh network or a segment of a mesh network that originatesfrom one fiber PoP (Point of Presence) to a different fiber PoP. Yet inanother embodiment, multiple long hop links can originate from a singlefiber PoP in multiple directions in the shape of wheel spokes. Theselong hop links can further be connected directly and/or indirectly withother short hop link to provide access to multiple end users.

In another embodiment, a wireless mesh network comprising of long hoplinks and short hop links can be designed with a constraint thatadjacent short hop links that are directly connected to each other donot form a straight-line in order to avoid interference from each otherand end-user locations. For example, adjacent short hop links may bechosen such that they form a zig-zag pattern or a pattern other than astraight line that ensures that millimeter wave signal propagation fromone short hop link does not cause interference to the millimeter wavesignals of adjacent short hop link.

In accordance with the present disclosure, an example approach tobuilding a wireless mesh network comprising short hops links, long hoplinks and high capacity long hop links can be designed and built inphases. For example, in one embodiment, a wireless communication meshnetwork can be built in two phases. In the first phase, the wirelessmesh network may consist of only high capacity long hop links thatprovide a mesh network the ability to quickly access and cover a widearea with limited number of links. In the second phase, a large numberof long and short hop links can be added to the wireless mesh networkthat either directly or in-directly connect to high capacity log hoplinks, thereby providing wireless access to a large number of end users.In another embodiment, a wireless mesh network can be built in a waythat short hop links, long hop links and high capacity long hop linksare deployed in parallel.

In some embodiments, a wireless mesh network may be designed andconstructed with one or more of (1) seed nodes, (2) type A nodes, (3)adjacent type B nodes, or (4) non-adjacent type B nodes.

In accordance with the present disclosure, a seed node may be a type ofwireless mesh communication network node that hosts mmWave equipment toestablish very high capacity ptp/ptmp links with a fiber PoP node andmmWave equipment to establish high capacity ptp/ptmp links with othernodes in a wireless mesh network. In some embodiments, type A node maybe a type of node in a wireless mesh communication network that hostsmmWave equipment to establish high capacity ptp/ptmp links with othertype A nodes or a seed node in the wireless mesh communication network.In some embodiments, an adjacent type B node may be a type of networknode that is adjacent to a seed or type A node and can be linked to anadjacent seed or type A node via a wired medium. These adjacent type Bnodes can provide alternate power supply options for seed or type Anodes especially during a power outage event longer than the run time ofthe backup power supply at the seed or type A nodes. These adjacent typeB nodes can get high speed internet data connection via wired mediumthrough their respective adjacent seed or type A nodes without the needof deployment of any mmWave equipment. In some embodiments, anon-adjacent type B node may be a type of network node that is adjacentto an adjacent type B node and can be linked to a non-adjacent seed ortype A node via an extension of an existing wired medium between theseed/type A node and the adjacent type B node that is adjacent to thenon-adjacent type B node.

In some embodiments, adjacent and non-adjacent type B nodes can be addedto the wireless mesh communication network after the completion of aphase where mmW mesh network customer nodes are built and configured byextending a wired link. The locations of adjacent and non-adjacent typeB nodes in some embodiments can be picked from a pool of availablepotential customers based on a marketing phase of the wireless meshnetwork planning and deployment method. Additionally, through targeteddoor-to-door sales, other suitable candidates for adjacent andnon-adjacent type B nodes can be approached and added to the wirelessmesh communication network.

In some embodiments, through a chain of adjacent and non-adjacent type Bnodes that connects a seed or type A wireless mesh network node withanother seed or type A wireless mesh network node, a very high capacitywired link can be established. This very high capacity wired link can beused for intelligent mesh networking operations including trafficshaping, load balancing, data aggregation, data splitting, etc.

In another aspect, the disclosed systems and methods relate to a privateutility or service provider building a wireless mesh network. Theprivate utility or service provider may be a provider other than ahigh-speed internet data service provider who has customers (e.g.,single family home security/automation or solar energy customer) in acertain market or neighborhood and plan to offer high speed internetdata services to that market or neighborhood by taking advantage of theexisting customers' locations and using the existing customers as anchorhomes. In one embodiment, the private utility or service provider canbundle the existing service with new high-speed internet data servicesto the existing customers. In another embodiment, the private utility orservice provider can offer the new high-speed internet data service asan optional service to the existing service customers. In yet anotherembodiment, the private utility or service provider can offer the newhigh-speed internet data service for free to the existing servicecustomers.

In one embodiment, an example process of building a high speed wirelessmesh network starts with identification of potential wireless mesh nodeson existing service customers who signup for a high-speed wirelessinternet data service from an existing private utility or serviceprovider and allowing the existing private utility or service providerto deploy and install wireless mesh network gear including ptp/ptmpmillimeter wave hardware, antennas, cellular technology based smallcells, cables and other associated equipment on their property and/orgiving roof access rights. This is followed by line-of-sight analysis tocheck the line-of-sight connectivity between the existing customernodes. In one embodiment, in case of line-of-sight connectivity betweenexisting nodes, ptp/ptmp links are established between existing customernodes of the service provider if certain criteria, including but notlimited to received signal strength, line-of-sight with certain minimumnumber of neighbor homes, etc., are met.

In case of no line-of-sight connectivity between existing customer nodesof the private utility or service provider, planning for intermediarynode is performed. In one embodiment, planning for intermediary nodeinvolves targeted marketing including door-to-door marketing andonline/social media/influencer-based marketing to those potentialintermediary customer homes that can help in establishing aline-of-sight ptp/ptmp links-based path between existing customer nodes.In one embodiment, a single intermediary ptp/ptmp link is planned toconnect two existing customer nodes. In another embodiment, multipleptp/ptmp links are planned to connect two existing customer nodes. Next,some of those intermediary home locations are acquired by sale ofhigh-speed internet service to those intermediary customers that sign upfor high-speed internet service either as an independent service or as abundled service where in addition to high-speed internet service, autility or service is provided to the customer in exchange for allowingthe private utility or service provider to deploy and install wirelessmesh network gear including ptp/ptmp millimeter wave hardware, antennas,cellular technology based small cells, cables and other associatedequipment on their property and/or giving roof access rights to theprovider. This is followed by building wireless mesh nodes on the newlyacquired intermediary customer sites.

Next, connectivity between the new intermediary nodes and betweenintermediary nodes and existing customer nodes is created by addingptp/ptmp links between these nodes. Finally, a wireless mesh network iscompleted by adding high capacity links to some nodes that connect thesenodes to a fiber PoP site that provides connectivity to a core networkand data center. Such a site may be referred to herein as a seed site.In one embodiment, seed sites can be built in an initial phase ofwireless mesh network deployment before or together with the existingcustomer sites. In a different embodiment, seed sites can be built inthe middle of network deployment or towards the end of networkdeployment phase.

Accordingly, in one aspect, disclosed herein is a communication systemcomprising a set of wireless communication nodes that are configured tooperate as part of a wireless mesh network. Each respective wirelesscommunication node in the set of wireless communication nodes may bedirectly coupled to at least one other wireless communication node inthe set of wireless communication nodes via a respective short-hopwireless link, and at least a first pair of wireless nodes in the set ofwireless communication nodes may be both (a) indirectly coupled to oneanother via a first communication path that comprises one or moreintermediary wireless communication nodes and two or more short-hopwireless links and (b) directly coupled to one another via a firstlong-hop wireless link that provides a second communication path betweenthe first pair of wireless communication nodes having a lesser number ofhops than the first communication path. Further, a fiber access pointmay be directly coupled to a first wireless communication node of theset of wireless communication nodes.

In another aspect, disclosed herein is a communication system comprising(1) a first set of wireless communication nodes that may be configuredto operate as part of a first segment of a wireless mesh network, whereeach respective wireless communication node in the first set of wirelesscommunication nodes is directly coupled to at least one other wirelesscommunication node in the first set of wireless communication nodes viaa respective short-hop wireless link, and where at least a first pair ofwireless nodes in the first set of wireless communication nodes are both(a) indirectly coupled to one another via a first communication paththat comprises one or more intermediary wireless communication nodes andtwo or more short-hop wireless links within the first segment of thewireless mesh network and (b) directly coupled to one another via afirst long-hop wireless link that provides a second communication pathbetween the first pair of wireless communication nodes having a lessernumber of hops than the first communication path, (2) a second set ofwireless communication nodes that may be configured to operate as partof a second segment of the wireless mesh network, where each respectivewireless communication node in the second set of wireless communicationnodes is directly coupled to at least one other wireless communicationnode in the second set of wireless communication nodes via a respectiveshort-hop wireless link, and where at least a second pair of wirelessnodes in the second set of wireless communication nodes are both (a)indirectly coupled to one another via a third communication path thatcomprises one or more intermediary wireless communication nodes and twoor more short-hop wireless links within the second segment of thewireless mesh network and (b) directly coupled to one another via asecond long-hop wireless link that provides a fourth communication pathbetween the second pair of wireless communication nodes having a lessernumber of hops than the third communication path, and (3) a fiber accesspoint that may be directly coupled to both a first wirelesscommunication node of the first set of wireless communication nodes anda second wireless communication node of the second set of wirelesscommunication nodes.

In yet another aspect, disclosed herein is a method for building awireless mesh network, the method comprising (1) adding a first set ofwireless communication nodes to the wireless mesh network by (a)directly coupling each wireless communication node in the first set ofwireless communication nodes to another wireless communication node inthe first set of wireless communication nodes via a respectivehigh-capacity long-hop wireless link and (b) directly coupling a firstwireless communication node in the first set of wireless communicationnodes to a fiber access point, and (2) adding a second set of wirelesscommunication nodes to the wireless mesh network by coupling eachwireless communication node in the second set of wireless communicationnodes to at least one respective wireless communication node in thefirst set of wireless communication nodes via respective communicationpath that includes at least one short-hop wireless link.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate these as well asnumerous other aspects in reading the following disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages the presentdisclosure may be realized by reference to the following drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example diagram relating to wireless networking andcommunication systems, in accordance with various aspects of thisdisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating to wirelessnetworking and communication systems, in accordance with various aspectsof this disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating to wirelessnetworking and communication systems, in accordance with various aspectsof this disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating to wirelessnetworking and communication systems, in accordance with various aspectsof this disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating to wirelessnetworking and communication systems, in accordance with various aspectsof this disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows an example diagram relating to wireless networking andcommunication systems, in accordance with various aspects of thisdisclosure;

FIG. 7 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating to wirelessnetworking and communication systems, in accordance with various aspectsof this disclosure;

FIG. 8 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating to wirelessnetworking and communication systems, in accordance with various aspectsof this disclosure;

FIG. 9A shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 9B shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 10 shows an example diagram relating to wireless networking andcommunication systems, in accordance with various aspects of thisdisclosure;

FIG. 11 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 12 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 13 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 14 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 15 shows an example diagram relating to wireless networking andcommunication systems, in accordance with various aspects of thisdisclosure;

FIG. 16 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 17 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure; and

FIG. 18 shows designs illustrating exemplary methods relating towireless networking and communication systems, in accordance withvarious aspects of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As noted above, the present disclosure relates to wireless networks andcommunications including, but not limited to, broadband interne servicesto end user, security and/or automation systems, as well as narrow beammesh networking and related operations and techniques.

In one aspect, disclosed herein are systems and methods that relate towireless mesh networks (e.g., narrow beam mesh networks), associatedsystems, and operations relating to network communication, including, insome embodiments, adjustments and modifications. The disclosed systemsand methods may facilitate designing, operating and/oradjusting/modifying wireless networking communications. In someembodiments, the disclosed systems and methods relate to and account forwireless communication nodes that are capable of establishingpoint-to-point extremely narrow beam communication link, point-to-pointsteerable extremely narrow beam communication link, point-to-pointmultiple extremely narrow beam communication link, point-to-multipointnarrow beam communication links, ultra-wide-band point-to-pointcommunication link and a combination of point-to-point andpoint-to-multipoint communication links, among other possibilities.

In another aspect, disclosed herein are systems and methods that relateto the design of millimeter wave mesh networks, associated systems, andoperations relating to network communication, including, in someembodiments, adjustments and modifications. In some embodiments, thedisclosed systems and methods relate to and account for designing andconstructing a wireless mesh network with long hop links and/or shorthop links.

As one example to illustrate, FIG. 1 shows an example data communicationnetwork capable of providing multigigabit internet speeds throughwireless point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links. Communicationnetwork 100 in FIG. 1 includes Tower/fiber access points (fiber PoPs)101 and 102.

Tower/fiber access points 101 and 102 can be co-located or can belocated at different physical locations. Tower/fiber access points 101and 102 have access to high bandwidth dark fiber capable of providing upto several hundred gigabits/second of data throughput. Tower/fiberaccess points provide backhaul connectivity between the corenetwork/data center (not shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of simplicity) anda seed home of the communication network described below. Tower/Fiberaccess points 101 and 102 host hardware equipment that establishwireless point-to-point connectivity with communication nodes 103 and106 respectively.

Specifically, fiber PoP 101 is connected to wireless communication node103 via the long hop link 120 that is capable of operating on highbandwidth (multiple gigahertz) signals operating at very high frequency(e.g., 6 Ghz˜100 Ghz such as 28 Ghz, V band, E band, etc.). Similarly,fiber PoP 102 is connected to wireless communication node 106 via thelong hop link 124 that is capable of operating on high bandwidth(multiple gigahertz) signals operating at very high frequency (e.g., 6Ghz˜100 Ghz such as 28 Ghz, V band, E band, etc.).

In addition, wireless communication node 103 is connected to wirelesscommunication node 104 via long hop link 121, wireless communicationnode 104 is connected to wireless communication node 105 via long hoplink 122, and finally wireless communication node 105 is connected towireless communication node 106 via long hop link 123 as shown in FIG.1.

The long hops link 120, 121, 122, 123 and 124 may have longer lengthcompared to short hop links. For example, in one embodiment, longer hoplinks can have 500˜600 meters length. In a different embodiment, longhops links can be shorter or longer than 500˜600 meters.

Communication network 100 also comprises a number of short hop links asshown in FIG. 1. Specifically, wireless communication node 103 isconnected with wireless communication node 107 via the short hop link125, wireless communication node 107 is connected with wirelesscommunication node 108 via short hop link 126, wireless communicationnode 108 is connected with wireless communication node 109 via short hoplink 127, wireless communication node 109 is connected with wirelesscommunication node 110 via short hop link 128, wireless communicationnode 110 is connected with wireless communication node 111 via short hoplink 129, and wireless communication node 111 is connected with wirelesscommunication node 104 via short hop link 130 to close the zig-zag pathof short hop links that originates from wireless communication node 103and ends at wireless communication node 104.

Similarly, FIG. 1 shows that wireless communication node 104 isconnected with wireless communication node 112 via short hop link 131,wireless communication node 112 is connected with wireless communicationnode 113 via short hop link 132, wireless communication node 113 isconnected with wireless communication node 114 via short hop link 133,wireless communication node 114 is connected with wireless communicationnode 115 via short hop link 134, and wireless communication node 115 isconnected with wireless communication node 105 via short hop link 135 toclose the path of short hop links that originate from wirelesscommunication node 104 and end at wireless communication node 105.

Likewise, FIG. 1 shows that wireless communication node 105 is connectedwith wireless communication node 116 via short hop link 136, wirelesscommunication node 116 is connected with wireless communication node 117via short hop link 137, wireless communication node 117 is connectedwith wireless communication node 118 via short hop link 138, wirelesscommunication node 118 is connected with wireless communication node 119via short hop link 139, and wireless communication node 119 is connectedwith wireless communication node 106 via short hop link 140 to close thepath of short hop links that originate from wireless communication node104 and end at wireless communication node 105.

In this respect, the path of short hop links that connect wirelesscommunication node 103 to wireless communication node 104 is shown toconsist of 5 intermediary wireless communication nodes 107-111 and 6short hop links 125-130. Similarly, path of short hop links that connectwireless communication node 104 to 105 and 105 to 106 each consists of 4intermediary wireless communications nodes and 5 short hop links.However, it should be understood that wireless communication system 100can have any number of intermediary nodes in the path of short hop linksthat connect two wireless communication nodes that are already connecteddirectly to each other via long hop link.

In accordance with the present disclosure, the use of long hop links incombination with short hop links greatly reduces the maximum number ofhops that data packets need to pass in order to transport packetsbetween an end user and a fiber PoP. For example, consider an end userassociated with wireless communication node 113. In the absence of longhop links 121, 122 and 123, a data packet originated from an end-userconnected with wireless communication node 113 would pass through alarge number of intermediary wireless communication nodes. For instance,in the event where a packet needs to be transmitted between fiber PoP101 and wireless communication node 113, the packet would go through 8intermediary nodes including 112, 104, 111, 110, 109, 108, 107, and 103under such a scenario where no long hop links are available in the meshnetwork. However, as shown in the FIG. 1, in the presence of long hoplinks, the packet would only go through 3 nodes including 112, 104 and103 as wireless communication nodes 103 and 104 are directly connectedvia long hop link 121. This greatly reduces the latency or packet delayas packet delay as latency increases linearly with the increasing numberof intermediary nodes.

The example above shows how an end-user associated with wirelesscommunication node 113 can benefit from the presence of long hop linksfor improving the latency or packet delay. However, it should beunderstood that end-users associated with a large number of wirelesscommunication nodes (especially the ones that are indirectly connectedto wireless communication nodes with long hop links) can benefit fromthe presence of long hop links to improve network latency or packetdelay. In addition, the presence of long hop links improve thereliability of the network by increasing the number of availablewireless mesh network paths between the source and the destination. Forexample, an end user associated with wireless communication node 113 cantake A) a path consisting of intermediary nodes 112←→104←→103←→101, B) apath consisting of intermediary nodes112←→104←→111←→110←→109←→108←→107←→103←→101, C) a path consisting ofintermediary nodes 114←→115←→105←→106←→102, D) a path consisting ofintermediary nodes 114←→115←→105←→116←→117←→118←→119←→106←→102 toconnect to the core network. These alternative paths increasereliability of the overall network. For example, in the event that shorthop link 125 fails, option B described above for the end user ofwireless communication node 113 may not be available. However, otheroptions including A, C and D may still be available to transfer packetsor traffic between wireless communication node 113 and the core network.

Bi-directional communication links 120 to 140 shown in FIG. 1 can usevarious different multiple access schemes for transmission and receptionincluding but not limited to frequency division multiple access (FDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA), single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA),single carrier TDMA (SC-TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA),orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), non-orthogonalmultiple access (NOMA) as described in various generations ofcommunication technologies including 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and 6G etc.Bi-directional communication links 120 to 140 formed by the pairs ofcommunication nodes from the set including 101 to 119 are capable ofdata information transfer via a variety of digital transmission schemesincluding but not limited to amplitude modulation (AM), phase modulation(PM), pulse amplitude modulation/quadrature amplitude modulation(PAM/QAM), ultra-wide band (UWB) pulse modulation (pico-second pulses),etc.

In FIG. 1, two Tower/fiber access points (PoP) 101 & 102, 5 long hopbi-directional links 120-124 and 16 bi-directional point to point shorthop links 125-140 are shown to illustrate an example of a communicationnetwork. However, it should be understood that communication network 100can include a different number of Tower/fiber (fiber PoP) nodes, longhop links, and/or short hop links depending on the specific layout of aparticular instantiation of the communication network deployed in thefield. Communication network may also contain other nodes (e.g., networkswitches/routers etc.) that are omitted here for the sake of simplicity.

Referring to FIG. 2, another example layout of a wireless communicationnetwork comprising long hop links and short hop links is shown.Specifically, FIG. 2 shows a fiber PoP node 201, a number of segments oflong hop links originating from fiber PoP 201 in the shape of wheelspokes, and wireless communication nodes interconnected via short hoplinks.

For example, long hop links 242 and 243 that connect the nodes 201 to206 and 206 to 207, respectively, form a segment of long hop links (1stspoke). Similarly, long hop links 244 and 245 that connect node 201 to208 and 208 to 209, respectively, form another segment of long hop links(2^(nd) spoke). Likewise, long hop links 246 and 247 that connect node201 to 210 and 210 to 211, respectively, form another segment of longhop links (3rd spoke). In the same manner, long hop links 248 and 249that connect node 201 to 213 and 213 to 212, respectively, form anothersegment of long hop links (4th spoke). Similarly, long hop links 238 and239 that connect node 201 to 202 and 202 to 203, respectively, formanother segment of long hop links (5^(th) spoke). Similarly, long hoplinks 240 and 241 that connect node 201 to 204 and 204 to 205,respectively, form another segment of long hop links (6^(th) spoke).

The different spokes that are formed from segments of long hop links arealso interconnected via long hop links. For example, the 1^(st) spokeand 2^(nd) spoke are connected via long hop link 281. Similarly, the3^(rd) and 4^(th) spokes are connected via long hop link 282 and the5^(th) and 6^(th) spokes are interconnected via long hop link 280 asshown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows 6 segments of long hop links or spokes originating fromfiber PoP 201. However, it should be understood that a wireless meshnetwork layout can have any number of spokes, which may depend on thespecific terrain of the network, density of homes (potential nodelocations) and line-of-sight profile.

The example network layout in FIG. 2 also shows a number of wirelesscommunication nodes connected to each other and to those wirelesscommunication nodes that are already connected via long hop linksthrough short hop links. Specifically, wireless communication node 201is connected to wireless communication node 214 via short hop link 250,wireless communication node 214 is connected to wireless communicationnode 215 via short hop link 251, wireless communication node 215 isconnected to wireless communication node 216 via short hop link 252,wireless communication node 216 is connected to wireless communicationnode 217 via short hop link 253, and wireless communication node 217 isconnected to wireless communication node 203 via short hop link 254 toform a segment of short hop links that connects the wirelesscommunication node 202 and 203, thereby providing an alternative pathbetween nodes 202 and 203.

Similarly, wireless communication node 204 is connected to wirelesscommunication node 218 via short hop link 255, wireless communicationnode 218 is connected to wireless communication node 219 via short hoplink 256, wireless communication node 219 is connected to wirelesscommunication node 220 via short hop link 257, wireless communicationnode 220 is connected to wireless communication node 221 via short hoplink 258, and wireless communication node 221 is connected to wirelesscommunication node 205 via short hop link 259 to form a segment of shorthop links that connects the wireless communication node 204 and 205,thereby providing an alternative path between nodes 204 and 205.

Likewise, wireless communication node 206 is connected to wirelesscommunication node 222 via short hop link 260, wireless communicationnode 222 is connected to wireless communication node 223 via short hoplink 261, wireless communication node 223 is connected to wirelesscommunication node 224 via short hop link 262, wireless communicationnode 224 is connected to wireless communication node 225 via short hoplink 263, and wireless communication node 225 is connected to wirelesscommunication node 207 via short hop link 264 to form a segment of shorthop links that connects the wireless communication node 206 and 207,thereby providing an alternative path between nodes 206 and 207.

Similarly, other short hop links ranging from 265 to 279 connect anumber of wireless communication nodes to each other. Nodes belonging todifferent spokes or segments of long hop links can also beinterconnected via short hop links. For example, node 224 and node 228are associated with two different spoke or segments of long hop links.However, both 224 and 228 are connected to another wirelesscommunication node 283 via short hop links 284 and 285, respectively,thereby creating a path along wireless mesh network that can connectnodes associated with different spokes via short hop links in additionto long hop links 280, 281 and 282 described above.

In addition, it is also possible to connect any to adjacent spokes viadirect long hop links. For example, although not shown in FIG. 2, it isalso possible to connect wireless communication node 211 and wirelesscommunication node 209 via a long hop link in the presence ofline-of-sight path between 211 and 209. Similar to the example networklayout of FIG. 1, the example layout of FIG. 2 comprising long hop linksand short hop links greatly reduces the maximum number of links a datapacket needs to pass through before reaching a destination. In addition,long hop links increase the reliability of a network by providingalternative paths in the event an original path of traffic flow breaksdue to failure of a link (or multiple links).

Referring to FIG. 3, another example mesh network design is depicted,where adjacent short hop links are constrained to not form a straightline in order to avoid mutual interference from adjacent wirelesscommunication nodes. For example, consider segment 3A consisting of twonodes that are directly above wireless communication node 107. The shorthop link that connects these two nodes above of node 107 cannot beallowed as it would cause interference to node 107 as their signalpropagation path overlaps. Similarly, segment 3B consists of 3 nodesthat are on the right side of node 112. The two short hop links insegment 3B cannot be allowed as they may cause interference for node 112as their signal propagation path overlaps. In general, nodes that areconnected via short hop links in such a manner (e.g., in a segment ofshort hop links that form a straight line) cannot be allowed as they maycause interference among adjacent nodes connected via short hop links.

In accordance with the present disclosure, as noted above, the disclosedwireless mesh network can be built in phases. For example, as shown inFIG. 4, the first phase may involve building the network with only longhop links. This allows quick access and coverage to large areas with asmall number of nodes. In the second phase, short hop links may be addedto provide connectivity to a large number of end users that are spreadover a large region with the help of long hop links that were created inthe first phase. Availability of long hop links in the second phaseallows easy design of short hop links as segments of short hop links canbe terminated at any close by node that is connected to via a long hoplink to another node or fiber PoP.

FIG. 5 shows an example real-world depiction of techniques and designprinciples disclosed herein. Black lines in FIG. 5 represent long hoplinks described in the context of the figures above and white linesrepresent short hop links that provide connectivity to end users. Longhop links help connect the wireless mesh network to the two fiber PoPshown with black circles in the FIG. 5. It can be readily seen that useof long hop links greatly reduces the maximum number of links a datapacket is required to pass through in order to reach from source todestination there by improving the latency and packet delay of thenetwork. As noted above, long hop links also improve the overall networkreliability by providing alternate paths for traffic flow in case anoriginal path fails.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the disclosedsystems and methods may relate to and account for designing andconstructing a wireless mesh network comprising high-capacity long hoplinks.

As one example to illustrate, FIG. 6 shows an example communicationnetwork 600 based on a ptp/ptmp wireless mesh network. Communicationnetwork 600 has fiber PoP 601 that represents a site with theavailability of fiber/dark fiber or very high capacity backbone links tothe core network. Another consideration in the selection of the siterepresented by fiber PoP 601 is the height of the building and typicallymulti-story buildings that provides line-of-sight to a large surroundingarea is selected. FIG. 6 also shows that fiber PoP 601 hosts multipleptp/ptmp narrow beam width nodes that provide capability of establishingseveral ptp/ptmp high capacity bi-directional links.

Specifically, FIG. 6 shows that fiber PoP 601 location hosts, a ptp/ptmpnode that establishes a very high capacity ptp/ptmp link 601-1 with alocation seed A that serves as an anchor node for a first cluster ofwireless mesh network, a ptp/ptmp node that establishes a very highcapacity ptp/ptmp link 601-2 with a location seed B that serves as ananchor node for a second cluster of wireless mesh network, a ptp/ptmpnode that establishes a very high capacity ptp/ptmp link 601-3 with alocation seed C that serves as an anchor node for a third cluster ofwireless mesh network, a ptp/ptmp node that establishes a very highcapacity ptp/ptmp link 601-4 with a location seed D that serves as ananchor node for a fourth cluster of wireless mesh network, a ptp/ptmpnode that establishes a very high capacity ptp/ptmp link 601-5 with alocation seed E that serves as an anchor node for a fifth cluster ofwireless mesh network and ptp/ptmp node that establishes a very highcapacity ptp/ptmp link 601-6 with a location seed F that serves as ananchor node for a sixth cluster of wireless mesh network.

FIG. 6 shows fiber PoP 601 hosting six very high capacity long hop linksconnected to six anchor nodes for six clusters of the wireless meshnetwork. However, it should be understood that fiber PoP 601 can hostany number of very high capacity long hop links. Moreover, FIG. 6 showsthat each very high capacity long hop link is connected to a singlecluster of the wireless mesh network. However, it should be understoodthat multiple very high capacity long hop links can be connected to asingle cluster of the wireless mesh network.

In one embodiment, very high capacity long hop links can provide severalGiga bits of capacity. For example, 601-1 to 601-6 very high capacitylong hop links in FIG. 6 can provide 10 Gbps capacity and can operate onE-band links. In other embodiments, 601-1 to 606-1 very high capacitylong hop links can provide greater than or less than 10 Gbps capacitycan be operate on other millimeter wave frequencies ranging from 6 Ghzto 100 Ghz (e.g. 28 Ghz, V band, etc.).

Bi-directional communication links 601-1 to 601-6 shown in FIG. 6 canuse various different multiple access schemes for transmission andreception including but not limited to frequency division multipleaccess (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), single carrier FDMA(SC-FDMA), single carrier TDMA (SC-TDMA), code division multiple access(CDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA),non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), Single Carrier (SC) transmissionas described in various generations of communication technologiesincluding 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and 6G etc. Bi-directional communicationlinks 601-1 to 601-6 formed by the ptp/ptmp nodes at fiber PoP 101 andset of seed homes A-F are capable of data information transfer via avariety of digital transmission schemes including but not limited toamplitude modulation (AM), phase modulation (PM), pulse amplitudemodulation/quadrature amplitude modulation (PAM/QAM), ultra-wide band(UWB) pulse modulation (pico-second pulses), etc.

FIG. 6 also shows a ring (circle with dash line) that represents acertain threshold that limits the maximum length of a very high capacitylong hop link. As shown, very high capacity long hop links 101-1 to101-6 are inside the dash line circle. The threshold of the dash circlethat defines the limit of the maximum length of a very high capacitylong hop link can be based on variety of different criteria.

In one embodiment, the threshold can be based on the rain fade marginsthat guarantees certain data rate or capacity of a link based on acertain amount of rain per unit time or rain zone of a geographicalarea. That means that although a very high capacity long hop links canhave a link length greater than the radius of the cell shown in FIG. 6during normal operations when there is no rain, the link can eithercompletely break or provide a data rate or capacity that is lower thanthe required capacity of the link when there is rain/snow, etc. In someother embodiment, the threshold of the dash circle that defines thelimit of the maximum length of a very high capacity long hop link can bebased on link speed, latency, packet error rate, signal strength, etc.,or a combination thereof.

In one embodiment, the threshold can be within a 1 to 2 mile range. Inanother embodiment, the threshold can be greater than a 1 to 2 milerange or less than a 1 to 2 mile range. Based on the above description,this also implies that all seed locations (e.g. Seed A to Seed F in FIG.6) are required to be within a threshold distance (e.g., radius ofcircle) from fiber PoP 601.

It should be understood that while communication Network 600 in FIG. 6is shown to have one fiber PoP (e.g, fiber PoP 601), communicationnetwork 600 can have multiple fiber PoPs, where the number of fiber PoPsmay be determined by the availability of buildings with dark fiber, theline-of-sight profile of a given building within the surrounding area,cost (CAPEX and OPEX) of the fiber PoP site to a wireless mesh networkoperator, among other examples.

In addition to fiber PoP node 601, very high capacity long hop links101-1 to 101-6, and seed homes A to seed home F, FIG. 6 also showsmultiple long hop links and short hop links that form the wireless meshnetwork and connects an end user to communication network 600 with thehelp of ptp/ptmp links that were described above. Specifically, a linkthat connects two solid black nodes (small square/circle) in FIG. 6represents a long hop link, where the length of a long hop link istypically between 400˜600 meters. A link between two white nodes (smallsquare) or between a white node and a solid black node (smallsquare/circle) in FIG. 6 represents a short hop link.

As noted above, the use of long hops links can greatly reduce the numberof hops required by the data packets between the end user and the corenetwork. For example, consider node 1000 that is located at the farnorth west section of communication network 600 in FIG. 6. Packets fromnode 1000 can reach seed home E with 6 long hop links and ultimately tofiber PoP 601 with 7 hops, whereas without longs hop links, packets fromcustomer node 1000 would requires more than 30 hops to reach fiber PoP601, which can exceed the latency requirements or other performancerequirements of a data application used by an end user at node 1000.

It is to be noted here that a cluster's capacity may be limited by thetotal capacity of a very high capacity long hop link that connects awireless mesh network cluster to fiber PoP 601 or the core network. Forexample, consider Seed A that serves as an anchor node for the wirelessmesh network's first cluster and connects the first wireless meshnetwork cluster to the fiber PoP via very high capacity long hop link601-1. This first wireless mesh network cluster's maximum capacity maybe limited to the maximum capacity of the ptp/ptmp very high capacitylong hop link 601-1.

It is also to be noted here that Seed A that serves as an anchor nodemay aggregate multiple ptp/ptmp long and short hop links of the wirelessmesh network cluster. Hence the total network traffic carried by Seed Afrom the first cluster to the fiber PoP 601 via ptp/ptmp very highcapacity long hop link 601-1 is limited to the total sum of thecapacities of all the long and short hop links that terminate at Seed A.Hence the maximum traffic that can flow between a wireless mesh networkcluster and the core network may be defined by the minimum of thecapacity of a very high capacity long hop link and the sum capacity ofall the long and short hop links that terminate at an anchor node (e.g.,MIN (Capacity of Very High Capacity Long Hop Link, SUM (Capacities ofShort and Long Links terminating at anchor/seed node))).

Referring to FIG. 7, communication network 700 is shown that is similarto the communication network 600 shown in FIG. 6 and described earlierin the disclosure. Additionally, network 700 includes some ptp/ptmplinks that connect two adjacent wireless mesh network clusters.Specifically, ptp/ptmp link AF connects first wireless mesh networkcluster to the sixth wireless mesh network cluster, ptp/ptmp link BCconnects the second wireless mesh network cluster to the third wirelessmesh network cluster and ptp/ptmp link DE connects the fourth wirelessmesh network cluster to the fifth wireless mesh network cluster. Thelinks AF, BC and DE can be short hop links or long hop links.

In FIG. 7, 3 links AF, BC and DE are shown that connect two adjacentwireless mesh network clusters. However, it should be understood thatany number of links can be used in communication network 700 that canconnect any number of adjacent wireless mesh network clusters.

Generally speaking, the links AF, BC and DE help in increasing thereliability of the network by providing alternate paths on network 700for data packets to travel from a source to a destination. In addition,the links AF, BC and DE may help in balancing the load between adjacentwireless mesh network clusters they connect. Hence in an examplescenario that involves high load in the first cluster of wireless meshnetwork of the communication network 700 where a very high capacity longhop link or long/short hop links terminating at Seed A node getcongested, data traffic can be re-routed through another cluster (e.g.,the sixth wireless mesh network cluster) and very high capacity long hoplink 601-6 via link AF that connects the first and sixth wireless meshnetwork clusters of communication network 700.

Similarly, the 2^(nd) and 3^(rd) wireless mesh network clusters can uselink BC for traffic load balancing and increasing reliability of theirrespective clusters, and the 4^(th) and 5^(th) wireless mesh networkclusters can use link DE for traffic load balancing and increasingreliability of their respective clusters. However, based on thediscussion above with respect to FIG. 6, links AF, BC and DE do not addto the total capacity of the network cluster as total capacity dependson the sum capacity of the long/short hop links terminating at a seednode and the capacity of very high capacity long hop links. Hence, inorder to increase the total capacity of the wireless mesh network, otherdesign techniques need to be adopted as explained in the following.

Referring to FIG. 8, a communication network 800 is shown that issimilar to the communication networks 600 and 700 shown in FIGS. 6-7,respectively. FIG. 8 additionally shows a very high capacity very longhop link 601-5E that connects node 1000 of the 5^(th) cluster of thewireless mesh network to fiber PoP 601. It is to be noted here that veryhigh capacity very long hop link 601-5E uses similar technology as thatof very high capacity long hop link 601-5. However, the length of veryhigh capacity very long lop link 601-5E may be much greater than veryhigh capacity long hop link 601-5 and may exceed the maximum lengththreshold as defined by the circle with dash lines. Hence, performanceand capacity of the very high capacity very long hop link 601-5E candiffer during certain events described earlier. For example, in oneembodiment, the length of very high capacity very long hop link 601-5Ecan exceed the length that is allowed by the link budget (MaximumAllowable Path Loss) that includes a rain fade margin. Hence, duringnormal network operations without any rain, very high capacity very longhop link 601-5E can work similar to (with possibility of some capacitydegradation but within acceptable range) very high capacity long hoplink 601-5, but in the event of rain, the capacity of very high capacityvery long hop link 601-5E can degrade below the acceptable level or cancompletely break.

In other embodiments, degradation can occur due to other reasons thatwere explained in the context of FIG. 6. Hence, a very high capacityvery long hop link can provide benefits during normal network operationsand during certain events where the capacity of the very high capacityvery long hop link degrades below the acceptable level, wirelesscommunication network 800 can fall back to network configurationsdescribed in the context of FIGS. 6-7.

During normal network operations, very high capacity very long hop link601-5E provides additional capacity to the wireless mesh networkclusters. For example, in FIG. 8, total maximum capacity of the 4^(th)and 5^(th) clusters that are connected together is defined as the sum ofthe minimum of very high capacity (very) long hop link and the sum oftotal capacity of the short and long hop links connected to anchor nodes(e.g., Seed E, Seed D and Node 1000). Mathematically, for example, totalcapacity of the two connected wireless mesh network of the 4^(th) and5^(th) clusters is defined as: MIN (Capacity of 601-5E, SUM (capacitiesof long and short hop link terminating at node 1000))+MIN (Capacity of601-5, SUM (capacities of long and short hop link terminating at SeedE))+MIN (Capacity of 601-4, SUM (capacities of long and short hop linkterminating at Seed D)).

In FIG. 8, very high capacity very long hop link 601-5E is shown to bedirectly connected to a single mesh network cluster and indirectlyconnected to another wireless mesh network cluster via link DE. However,it should be understood that a node at another location in a meshnetwork cluster (not shown in FIG. 8) can be picked as an anchor nodefor very high capacity very long hop link 601-5E such that very highcapacity very long hop link 601-5E can be connected directly to multiplewireless mesh network clusters.

Generally speaking, the presence of very high capacity very long hoplinks (e.g., very high capacity very long hop link 601-5E) can helpreduce the latency for nodes in a wireless mesh network that are at fardistance from fiber PoP 601 and data packets from such nodes arerequired to go through multiple hops even in the presence of long hoplinks. For example, in case of node 1000, which originally required aminimum of 7 long hops for data packets from node 1000 to fiber PoP 601as described above, node 1000 in communication network 800 may nowrequire only a single hop via very high capacity very long hop link601-5E to reach fiber PoP 601. Similarly, the presence of very highcapacity very long hop link 601-5E helps reduce the latency or packetdelay of nodes in the wireless mesh network that are close neighbors ofthe node 1000.

In some embodiments, wireless mesh network of communication network 800of FIG. 8 comprising short/long/very high capacity long/very highcapacity very long hop links can be built in phases. To illustrate,FIGS. 9A and 9B depict an example wireless mesh network comprising shorthop links, long hop links, very high capacity long hop links, and veryhigh capacity very long hops links that can be built in phases. Forinstance, as shown in FIG. 9A, a first phase may involve building thenetwork with only very high capacity long hop links and very highcapacity very long hop links. This allows quick access and coverage tolarge areas with a small number of nodes. Specifically, FIG. 9A showsconstruction/deployment of six very high capacity long hop links 901-1,901-2, 901-3, 901-4, 901-5 and 901-6 that connect Seed A, Seed B, SeedC, Seed D, Seed E and Seed F, respectively, to fiber PoP 901. As shown,very high capacity long hop links 901-1 to 901-6 are within the circlewith dash lines whose radius determines the length of each of the veryhigh capacity long hop links. FIG. 9A also shows construction (duringthe first phase) of six very high capacity very long hop links 901-1E,901-2E, 901-3E, 901-4E, 901-5E and 901-6E that provide directconnectivity between fiber PoP 901 and wireless mesh network nodes thatare at a far distance from fiber PoP 901.

In the second phase, as shown in FIG. 9B, wireless mesh network clustersbased on short hop links and long hop links are added to communicationnetwork 900 thereby providing fixed access network services to a largenumber of end users.

In FIGS. 9A and 9B, six very high capacity long hop links, six very highcapacity very long hop links and six wireless mesh network clusterscomprising long and short hop links are shown. However, it should beunderstood that communication network 900 can have any number of veryhigh capacity long hop links, very high capacity very long hop linksand/or wireless mesh network clusters, and the number of links may varydepending on the specific network layout and distribution of wirelessmesh network nodes in a geographical coverage area surrounding fiber PoP901 or multiple fiber PoPs (not shown in the figure). Further, FIGS. 9Aand 9B depicts one embodiment of communication network 900 constructedin two phases. However, it should be understood that wirelesscommunication network 900 can be built in a single phase, where all thedifferent types of links are deployed in parallel, or in more than twophases, where different types of links are deployed in different phases.

In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a wireless mesh networkmay be constructed with one or more of (1) seed nodes, (2) type A nodes,(3) adjacent type B nodes, or (4) non-adjacent type B nodes.

To illustrate, FIG. 10 depicts communication network 1000 based onptp/ptmp wireless mesh links. Communication network 1000 comprises fiberPoP 1001 that may represent a site that has fiber/dark fiber or veryhigh capacity backbone links available to communicate with the corenetwork or data center. The site of fiber PoP 101 may be selected basedon the height of a building (e.g., a multi-story building) that is highenough to provide line-of-sight to a large surrounding area. FIG. 10also shows that fiber PoP 1001 has two high capacity narrow beam widthnodes that provide capability of establishing two ptp/ptmp high capacitybi-directional links between fiber PoP 1001 and seed nodes 1 and 2.

As further shown in FIG. 10, wireless mesh network nodes are representedby solid black squares, while white squares represent homes in theneighborhood that are not selected (at least initially) to be part ofwireless mesh communication network 1000. Both seed nodes 1 and 2 arespecial type of wireless mesh network nodes. Seed nodes 1 and 2 host twotypes of communication equipment: 1) equipment for supporting ptp/ptmpmmWave wireless links, each represented in FIG. 10 with a thin blackline, with other regular wireless mesh network nodes called type A nodesand/or seed homes and 2) equipment for supporting high capacity ptp/ptmpmmWave links, each represented in FIG. 10 with a triple compound line,with fiber PoP 1001 providing connectivity to the core network.

Communication network 1000 of FIG. 10 shows two seed homes and two highcapacity ptp/ptmp mmWave connecting two seeds homes (e.g., Seed 1 andSeed 2) to fiber PoP 1001. However, it should be understood thatcommunication network 1000 may comprise any number of seed homes andcorresponding number of links for connectivity to fiber PoP 1001 ormultiple fiber PoPs. FIG. 10 also shows seventeen type A customer nodesand two seed home nodes in the communication network 1000. However, itshould be understood that communication network 1000 can have any numberof wireless mesh network nodes, including seed home nodes and type Anodes.

In practice, the wireless mesh network communication equipment (e.g.,antennas, RF and digital circuitry, routers, switches, etc.) deployed ontype A customer nodes and seed home nodes are typically powered usingthe same power source that provides power to a home hosting a wirelessmesh network node. Moreover, there may be a backup power supply that canprovide power for some time (usually 1˜2 hours) in an event of a poweroutage to the home hosting a wireless mesh network node. However, in anevent of a power outage that lasts for an extended period of time beyondthe backup power supply run time, the wireless mesh network equipmentwill shut down. This can impact not only the wireless mesh communicationnode with the power outage but also other wireless mesh communicationnetwork nodes (e.g., type A customer nodes) that have data pass throughthe wireless mesh communication node impacted by the power outage. Forexample, in FIG. 10, if Seed 1 wireless mesh communication node goesdown due to an extended power outage, a major portion of the wirelessmesh communication network may be impacted. For instance, the type Anodes that are close to Seed 1 may be required to reroute their data viaSeed 2. In an event where both Seed 1 and Seed 2 go down, the entirewireless mesh communication network is impacted. However, in case of anevent where a type A customer node at the far edge of the wireless meshcommunication network is impacted due to an extended power outage, theimpact is usually localized, although undesired.

Referring to FIG. 11, example communication network 1100 is shown.Similar to communication network 1000 of FIG. 10, communication network1100 of FIG. 11 comprises fiber PoP 1001, Seed nodes 1 and 2, highcapacity ptp/ptmp links between the seed nodes and fiber PoP 1001,multiple type A wireless mesh network customer nodes and ptp/ptmp linksconnecting type A nodes with other type A nodes and/or seed nodes. Inaddition, FIG. 11 shows multiple type B customer nodes represented bygrey color squares. These type B nodes are connected to type A nodes orseed nodes via a wired link. The wired link may take various forms,including but not limited to copper wire, coaxial copper cable,unshielded twisted pair categories 3, 4, 5, 5e, 6, 6A, 7, 7A, 8/8.1,8.2, plastic optical fiber, glass optical fiber, among other examples.Since type B nodes are directly connected to a wireless mesh networkcommunication node via a wired link, no additional mmW wirelesscommunication equipment, such as mmWave antennas, RF and digitalcircuitry, etc., is required other than the usual modem to terminate thewired link at the type B customer node and wireless/wired router toprovide internet data connectivity to the end customer of the type Bnode.

Accordingly, in one embodiment, a wireless mesh network operator canprovide internet data services to customers of type B nodes atsubsidized rates. In another embodiment, a wireless mesh networkoperator can provide internet data services to type B node customers atregular rates. Moreover, via the wired link that connects a type B nodeto wireless mesh communication network equipment at a type A or a seednode, the type B node can also serve as an alternate source to power thewireless mesh communication network equipment hosted by a type A or seednode site. For example, a type B node customer located above the Seed 1node site is shown in FIG. 11 via a double compound wired link connectedto the Seed 1 node site. Over a wired cable medium (e.g., power overethernet (PoE), power over optical, power over copper, etc.), the type Bcustomer node can provide an alternate power source to the wireless meshcommunication equipment at Seed 1 node. In some embodiments, a dedicatedpower cable can also be used to supply power by a type B node to mmWavemesh communication network equipment. Similarly, a type B node locatedto the right of Seed 2 node in FIG. 11 can provide an alternate sourceto power wireless mesh communication equipment located at the Seed 2node site in the event of an extended power outage at the Seed 2 nodesite beyond the run time of a backup power supply for the Seed 2 node.Similarly, FIG. 11 shows several other type B nodes connected torespective adjacent type A nodes via a wired link discussed above,thereby providing alternate power supply options for mmW wireless meshequipment at the respective node A sites.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, type B nodes are located athomes adjacent to seed nodes or type A nodes. However, it should beunderstood that type B nodes are not required to be located at homesadjacent to seed or type A nodes. For example, in another embodiment,there can be a single or multiple homes between a type B node and a typeA node or a seed node.

In accordance with the present disclosure, building a wireless meshnetwork may involve various phases to plan and construct the wirelessmesh network. For instance, in one example implementation, building awireless mesh network may involve a pre-marketing phase that may includevarious subphases to generate leads for potential locations of customersthat expressed interest in subscribing to an internet service for thedisclosed wireless mesh network. The subphases may involve socialmedia/online marketing, radio/television-based marketing, and/ormailer-based marketing, among other possible marketing approaches.

Based on the leads for potential locations of customers, an area ofinterest is identified that is used during a geo specific marketing andsales phase, which may involve door-to-door marketing and sales and adoor-to-door marketing and sales agent accessing a computing device toupload potential customer information that is provided to a networkplanning engine. The network planning engine may then select a subset oflocations of customers based on various criteria for wireless meshnetwork installation and deployment. Building a wireless mesh networkmay involve various other phases to plan and construct a wireless meshnetwork as well.

As one specific example to illustrate, FIG. 12 illustrates an examplehigh-level wireless mesh communication network planning and designmethod. In particular, FIG. 12 shows geo specific marketing block 1201,pool of potential customer block 1202, network planning engine block1203, wireless mesh network installation/deployment block 1204, tier 2wireless network based on phase 1 block 1205, and ancillary wiredcustomer node block 1206.

For purposes of illustration only, the example blocks shown in FIG. 12represent different phases of a wireless mesh communication networkplanning and deployment method. It should be understood that the blocksin FIG. 12 are merely described in such manner for the sake of clarityand explanation and that some blocks may be carried out in various othermanners as well, including the possibility that example blocks may beadded, removed, rearranged into different orders, grouped together,and/or not grouped together at all.

At a high level, block 1201 represents different marketing approachessuch as door-to-door marketing and sales (and possibly somepre-marketing approaches noted above, such as social media/onlinemarketing, radio/television-based marketing, and/or mailer-basedmarketing, etc.) within a certain area of interest (AOI) defined on thebasis of multiple factors, which may include the availability of abuilding with fiber connectivity at a reasonable cost, the level ofvegetation in the area, population density, demographics, and/or averageannual household income, among other factors. Based on the marketingphase 1201, a pool of potential customers is created at block 1202 whichis then fed to network planning engine 1203, where based on certaincriteria, a subset of customer locations from 1202 is selected andforwarded to wireless mesh network installation and deployment phase1204 for the construction of a wireless mesh communication network.Block 1204 may also be referred to as Phase 1. Based on this phase,subsequently in Phase 2A, communications equipment belonging to adifferent technology type at customer nodes constructed during phase 1may be deployed, and a different tier of a wireless communicationnetwork may be built that can serve other pool of potential customerscreated at block 1202, which are not picked as wireless mesh networknodes in phase 1 using a different technology tier. In addition,opportunistically in phase 2B, certain potential customers from block1202 which are not picked in phase 1 and 2A and are suitable for type Bcustomer nodes can be selected to become ancillary wired customer nodesor type B nodes. These ancillary nodes or type B nodes are required tobe in close proximity of the seed or type A nodes, so that a wired linkcan be built between these ancillary nodes and the seed or type A nodewithout too much complexity and cost.

In a preferred embodiment, a type B node is built on a potentialcustomer location that is adjacent to an existing seed or type A home.This way, ancillary wired customer node or type B node gets high speedinternet service without requirement for the mmWave based wireless meshequipment and at the same time the type A or seed node gets an alternatesource for power supply from an ancillary wired customer node.

In one embodiment, phase 2A of FIG. 12 can take place before phase 2B,thereby giving phase 2A opportunity to pick customers from a relativelylarger pool of remaining potential customers at block 1202, which arenot picked in phase 1. In this case, in phase 2B, ancillary wiredcustomer locations meeting type B customer criteria are picked that areleft in the pool of potential customers after phase 1 and phase 2A. Thefeedback loop from blocks 1206 to block 1201 shows that the targeteddoor-to-door marketing and sales phase where certain potential homesideal or suitable for type B nodes are targeted that are not in the poolof potential customers at block 1202. From sales of this targeted phaseat block 1201, type B customer nodes are built directly as shown in FIG.12.

In another embodiment, phase 2B of FIG. 12 can take place before phase2A, thereby giving phase 2B opportunity to pick ancillary wiredcustomers or type B nodes from a relatively larger pool of remainingpotential customers at block 1202 which are not picked in phase 1. Inthis case, in phase 2A, tier 2 wireless customer locations are pickedthat are left in the pool of potential customers after phase 1 and phase2B. The feedback loop from blocks 1206 to block 1201 shows that thetargeted door-to-door marketing and sales phase where certain potentialhomes ideal or suitable for type B nodes are targeted that are not inthe pool of potential customers at 1202. From sales of this targetedphase at block 1201, type B customer nodes are built directly as shownin FIG. 12. In another embodiment, phase 2A and 2B can take place inparallel.

Referring to FIG. 13, wireless mesh communication network 1300 is shownthat is similar to wireless mesh communication network 1000 and 1100shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, respectively. FIG. 13 additionally showsmultiple type B customer nodes that are adjacent to other type B nodesinstead of being adjacent to a seed or type A customer node. Thesenon-adjacent (to seed or type A node) type B nodes can be builtsubsequently after adjacent type B nodes using similar mechanisms forextending a wired link from an adjacent type B node to non-adjacent typeB nodes. Similar to adjacent type B nodes described in the context ofFIG. 11, the non-adjacent type B nodes provide an alternate power supplyoption for the mmWave wireless mesh equipment deployed at the seed ortype A customer nodes. In addition, similar to adjacent type B customernodes, non-adjacent type B customer nodes obtain high-speed internetdata connection via a wired link from a seed or type A customer nodewithout the need of any mmWave communication equipment, and the customerequipment (e.g., router) at the type B (adjacent and non-adjacent)customer node can be directly connected to the data/power hybridcommunication port of the mmWave equipment ports. For example, FIG. 13highlights six labelled nodes that are labelled from 1 to 6. Asexplained above, the solid black squares labelled 1 and 6 represent typeA nodes, solid grey labelled square nodes labelled 2 and 5 representadjacent type B nodes, and squares with black stripes labeled 3 and 4represent non-adjacent nodes.

In one embodiment, non-adjacent nodes that are connected to multipleseed and/or type A customer nodes via a wired link can provide alternatepower supply option to multiple seed and/or type A mesh customer nodes.In such cases, these non-adjacent type B customers, such as 3 and 4 ofthe FIG. 13, can be offered higher uplink and downlink speeds byaggregating data from two wired links for downlink and splitting thedata over two or more wired links originating from the non-adjacent typeB node in the uplink. In general, this approach for aggregating data fordownlink and splitting the data for uplink can be applied to otherwireless mesh nodes for throughput enhancement and can be charged at ahigher than normal rate.

In other embodiments, non-adjacent type B customer nodes (not shown inFIG. 13) may be connected to only single seed or type A customer nodeand provide alternate power supply option to only single seed or type Anode. As shown in FIG. 13, via a series of adjacent (or near adjacent)type B and non-adjacent type B nodes, two seed or type A nodes can beconnected through a wired link. The data path between the seed or type Anode and non-adjacent type B node is not dependent on the intermediaryadjacent type B node, and at the time of wired link extension for addinga non-adjacent type B node to the mesh network, fiber strand or cable orany other medium used for wired link can be spliced to create a directconnection between a seed or type A node and a non-adjacent type Bcustomer node. This provides protection in the event an adjacent type Bnode leaves the wireless mesh network for some reason.

Referring to FIG. 14, an example wireless mesh communication network1400 is shown that is similar to other example wireless meshcommunication networks discussed above. In particular, FIG. 14 showsthat a wired link originating from a seed or type A home can provideconnectivity to multiple customer homes and the adjacent andnon-adjacent type B homes that benefit from this wired connection can bein a single row or block of homes or can be in different row or block ofhomes. For example, in one embodiment, a wired link chain that connectsthe type A node 1 to type A node 6 via adjacent and non-adjacent nodes2-5 are on a single block or row of homes. In a different embodiment, awired link chain originating from Seed 2 node has one non-adjacent typeB node that is on a different block or row of homes. In a differentembodiment, a wired link that connects one seed or type A node to adifferent seed or type A node of the wireless mesh network via multipleadjacent and/or non-adjacent intermediary type B nodes can have nodesbelonging to multiple rows or blocks of homes and the total number ofintermediary adjacent and non-adjacent nodes can be any number greaterthan or equal to one. This ability of two wireless mesh network nodesincluding seed and type A nodes to be connected via wired links provideopportunities for improved mesh networking due to very high bandwidth ofthe wired link connected the wireless mesh nodes. This is be used forsmart traffic management including load balancing, traffic shaping,data/speed aggregation etc. Moreover, this also provides flexibility inwireless mesh network design that is dependent on having a directline-of-sight between connected nodes. For example, a prospectivecustomer may not have a line-of-sight from original Seed or Type Acustomers that have mmWave ptp/ptmp radios installed. However, as longas any intermediary Type B customers or adjacent Type B customer nodehas a line-of-sight with the prospective customer, connection can bemade by either moving (relocating) mmWave radios from Seed or Type Acustomer node to a adjacent/non-adjacent Type B customer node that hasline-of-sight with the prospective customer nodes or by installingadditional radios on adjacent/non-adjacent Type B customers without anyradio relocation.

In still another aspect of the present disclosure, the disclosed systemsand methods may involve a private utility or service provider other thana high-speed internet data service provider who has customers (forexample single family home security/automation or solar energy customer)in a certain market or neighborhood and plan to offer high speedinternet data services to that market or neighborhood by takingadvantage of the respective locations of existing customers and usingthe existing customers as anchor homes for building wireless meshnetwork nodes.

To illustrate, FIG. 15 depicts an example neighborhood where a privateutility or service provider offers its services that comprises homesrepresented by white rectangles arranged in blocks. Homes shown in FIG.15 may be detached single family homes. In other embodiments, homes canbe townhomes that are not detached or MDUs. In some other embodiments,white rectangles can also represent commercial business locations. Insome other embodiments, the neighborhood where the private utility orservice provider offer its services can have a combination of differenttypes of homes/locations mentioned above.

Black squares in FIG. 15 represent existing customer locations that arecurrent subscribers of the utility or service(s) provided by the privateutility or service provider. In one embodiment, the private utility orservice provider may plan to build a wireless mesh network using 5G, 4GLTE, and/or millimeter wave frequency based wireless technology andprovide high speed internet data services in the market or theneighborhood shown in FIG. 15 where it currently offers its services. Inone embodiment, the private utility or service provider may plan tooffer high-speed internet as an independent service separate from theutility or service it currently offers to the market or neighborhood. Inother embodiments, the private utility or service provider may plan tooffer a bundled service (high speed internet data plus the currentutility or service) to the market in order to increase the market sizeof its current utility or service by taking advantage of the large sizeof high-speed internet data market.

The process of building a wireless mesh network for high speed internetservice in one embodiment may start with identifying potential wirelessmesh nodes on existing service customer homes that sign up for a highspeed wireless internet data service from their existing private utilityor service provider, and allowing the existing private utility orservice provider to deploy and install wireless mesh network equipmentincluding ptp/ptmp millimeter wave hardware, antennas, cellulartechnology based small cells, cables and other associated equipment ontheir property and/or giving roof access rights. These existingcustomers can be approached through door-to-door marketing/sales and/orthrough existing communication channels between the private utility orservice provider and their customers. Hence, the private utility orservice provider may approach its existing customers represented byblack rectangles in FIG. 15 and use all or some of the existingcustomers who sign up for this new high speed interne data service asmesh network nodes.

Next step in building a wireless mesh network node may involveperforming a line-of-sight analysis on a subset (including a supersubset) of the existing customer locations.

Referring to FIG. 16, nine (numbered 1 to 9) wireless mesh network nodesrepresented by black squares are shown, which shows that the privateutility or service provider picked those nine existing customerlocations to build wireless mesh network nodes. In a differentembodiment, a different number of existing customer sites greater thanor less than 9 can be selected. Next, as shown in FIG. 16, aline-of-sight analysis between the newly built wireless mesh networknodes on the existing customers of the private utility or serviceprovider may be performed. FIG. 16 shows an example of a line-of-sightprofile of wireless mesh nodes from a segment of the neighborhood. FIG.16 shows that wireless mesh node 1 has a direct line-of-sight path forestablishing a ptp/ptmp narrow beam width link to wireless mesh node 2that can wirelessly connect mesh nodes 1 and 2. Similarly, FIG. 16 showsthat wireless mesh node 2 has a direct line-of-sight path forestablishing a ptp/ptmp narrow beam width link to wireless mesh node 3that can wirelessly connect mesh nodes 2 and 3. However, FIG. 16 alsoshows that wireless mesh node 1 does not have a direct line of sightpath for connection to wireless mesh node 4. Likewise, wireless meshnode 2 does not have a direct line-of-sight path with wireless mesh node5 indicated by cross symbol. Hence, FIG. 16 shows that in case ofconnectivity between wireless mesh node 1 and 2, and between 2 and 5,single or multiple intermediary nodes may be required.

In one embodiment, none of the existing customer site wireless meshnodes require an intermediary node to connect them to their nearest orsuitable neighbor wireless mesh node as all existing customer wirelessmesh nodes exhibit direct line-of-sight with their nearest or suitableneighbors. In another embodiment, all of the existing customer wirelessmesh nodes may require an intermediary node to connect them to theirnearest or suitable neighbor wireless mesh node as all existing customerwireless mesh nodes may exhibit non-line-of-sight with their nearest orsuitable neighbors. In yet another embodiment, wireless mesh networknodes of the private utility or service provider can have some existingcustomer wireless mesh nodes with direct line-of-sight to their nearestor suitable neighbor along with some existing customer wireless meshnodes with non-line-of-sight to their nearest neighbor thus requiringintermediary mesh nodes to connect them to their nearest or suitableexisting customer. In one embodiment, in case of line-of-sightpath/connectivity between existing customer wireless mesh nodes,ptp/ptmp mmWave frequency narrow beam width links may be establishedbetween existing customer nodes of the service provider if certaincriteria including but not limited to received signal strength,line-of-sight with certain minimum number of neighbor homes, etc. ismet.

In case of no line-of-sight connectivity between existing customer nodesof the private utility or service provider, planning for an intermediarynode is performed by the wireless mesh network planner or operator. Inone embodiment, planning for intermediary node may involve targetedmarketing including door-to-door marketing and online/socialmedia/influencer-based marketing to those potential intermediarycustomer homes that can help in establishing a line-of-sight ptp/ptmplinks-based path between existing customer wireless mesh network nodes.Next, some of those intermediary home locations are acquired by sale ofhigh speed internet service to those intermediary customers that sign upfor high speed internet service either as an independent service or as abundled service where in addition to high speed internet service, autility or service is provided to the customer in exchange for allowingthe private utility or service provider to deploy and install wirelessmesh network equipment including ptp/ptmp millimeter wave hardware,antennas, cellular technology based small cells, cables and otherassociated equipment on their property and/or giving roof access rightsto the provider. This is followed by building wireless mesh nodes on thenewly acquired intermediary customer sites. Next, connectivity betweenthe new intermediary nodes and existing customer nodes is established byadding ptp/ptmp links between these nodes.

Referring to FIG. 17, such intermediary nodes are represented by blackstripe rectangles and may be sometimes referred to herein as serviceprovider new customer nodes. In one embodiment, a single intermediaryptp/ptmp link is planned to connect two existing customer nodes. Oneinstance of this is shown in FIG. 17 that shows connectivity betweenwireless mesh nodes Seed 1 node and wireless mesh node 4. In anotherembodiment, multiple ptp/ptmp links are planned to connect two existingcustomer nodes. One instance of this is shown for connectivity betweenexisting customer wireless mesh node 4 and existing customer wirelessmesh node 7, where 3 intermediary nodes are planned for the meshnetwork. In other embodiments, more or less than 3 intermediary nodes(service provider new customer nodes) may be required, and the number ofintermediary nodes required may depend on the specific mesh networklayout or topology.

In turn, a wireless mesh network may be completed by adding highcapacity links to seed node sites (e.g., Seed 1 and Seed 2) in order toconnect the nodes to a fiber PoP site represented as fiber PoP 1701 inFIG. 17 that provides connectivity to the core network or data center.In one embodiment, seed node sites can be built in an initial phase ofwireless mesh network deployment before or together with the existingcustomer sites. In a different embodiment, seed node sites can be builtin the middle of network deployment phase or towards the end of networkdeployment phase.

Referring to FIG. 18 of the current disclosure, an example process flowof a method to build a wireless mesh network for a private utility orservice provider is shown in accordance with the present disclosure. Thefirst phase of the method may involve the selection of mesh networknodes from a pool of existing customers at block 1800, where the privateutility or service provider approach their existing customers for highspeed internet service marketing and select a subset (including a supersubset) of those existing service customers who sign up for the highspeed internet service from their current private utility or serviceprovider in exchange for the allowing the wireless mesh network operatorto deploy and install the wireless mesh network equipment (e.g.,antenna, mmWave mash RF/hardware, cellular small cell, cables, powerbox, etc.) along with roof access rights.

At block 1801, one embodiment may involve performing line-of-sightanalysis based on existing customer nodes. In this phase, line of sightanalysis is performed to determine which customer nodes have directline-of-sight path with their nearest or suitable neighbor node andwhich customer nodes require intermediary nodes to establishconnectivity with the nearest or suitable wireless mesh network node.

Based on the above phase, at block 1802, wireless mesh network equipmentmay be deployed and installed at existing customer nodes and at block1803, ptp/ptmp links may be established that connect the two existingcustomer wireless mesh nodes through a high-speed narrow beam widthlink.

In one embodiment, parallel to block 1802 and 1803, at block 1804, thedisclosed process may involve planning for intermediary sites, which mayinvolve targeted door-to-door and online/social media/influencer-basedmarketing model to get new customers signed up for high speed internetservice and allowing the wireless mesh operator to install and deploywireless mesh network equipment on their premises along with roof accessrights. At block 1805, based on the acquired intermediary customersites, new wireless mesh nodes are built.

In turn, at block 1806, ptp/ptmp links are established between twointermediary new customer nodes and between a new intermediary customernode and an existing customer wireless mesh network node. At block 1807,end to end connectivity may be provided by adding high capacity linksvia a seed site to a fiber PoP site.

FIG. 18 shows one embodiment of a method for building a wireless meshnetwork by a private utility or service provider. In other embodiments,some of the blocks shown in FIG. 18 can be omitted and/or replaced withother block. In a different embodiment, the order of the blocks shown inFIG. 18 can be changed. In another embodiment, order of the blocks inFIG. 18 can be changed in conjunction with adding new blocks and/oromitting some blocks.

It is also to be noted that throughout this current disclosure, andspecifically in the context of FIG. 17, intermediary nodes are discussedas a means for providing wireless ptp/ptmp connectivity between twoexisting customer site nodes. However, intermediary nodes can also bebuilt to add more customers to a wireless mesh network and/or to addredundancy to the network. For example, in one embodiment, two existingcustomer sites may have line-of-sight connectivity but can still beconnected via one or more intermediary nodes depending on multiplefactors described above (e.g., specific layout).

In still another aspect of the present disclosure, all nodes of thewireless mesh network can be equipped with at least onepoint-to-multipoint radio that is capable of establishing bi-directionallinks with multiple neighboring wireless mesh nodes, and possibly otherpoint-to-point or point-to-multipoint nodes. These point-to-multipointlinks use time division multiplexing (TDD) to create bi-directionallinks. For example, assume a ptmp link between node A and node B that isconfigured for 50% Downlink and 50% Uplink transmission duty cycle. Thismeans that during 50% Downlink time period, node A will be in listeningmode and node B will be in transmitting mode. Hence, node B will beuploading, and node A will be downloading. In the next 50% Uplinktransmission time period, roles of the nodes A and B will be flipped andduring that 50% uplink duty cycle, such that node A will be in thetransmitting mode and node B will be in the listening mode.

In the foregoing example, bi-directional links may be symmetric and thedata bandwidth in both directions may be the same. However, it should beunderstood that the transmission duty cycle can be made asymmetric bydedicating more time to downlink or uplink based on the traffic flowrequirements.

In a mesh network comprising point-to-multipoint nodes, certain pathsalong the mesh network may be critical if they carry backhaul data for alarge number of customers. Such links can be made more robust bychanging the transmission duty cycle of the bi-directional link. Forexample, assuming that node A is connected to node B, node C, node D andnode E and the bi-directional link between node A and node B carriescritical backhaul/signaling or other higher priority data of thewireless mesh network and other links including bi-directional linksbetween node A and node C, between node A and node D, between node A andnode E just carry regular end user traffic, then the directional linkbetween node A and node B can be made robust by changing thetransmission duty cycle of point-to-multipoint radios.

In one embodiment, the transmission duty cycle for the node A can bemade such that it performs uplink transmission with node B for 35% ofthe time, downlink transmission with node B for 35% of the time, uplinktransmission with node C, D and E for 5% of the time and downlinktransmission with node C, D and E for 5% of the time, Other neighboringnodes of the node A including node B, C, D and E can then adjust theirduty cycle to synchronize their transmitting and receiving timeintervals accordingly. This will allow to shape the bandwidth of thecritical links of the wireless mesh network based on the traffic flowrequirement and these changes can be performed dynamically. It should benoted that these duty cycles in some embodiments can be instantaneousduty cycles and in other embodiments, represent average duty cycles overa certain time window with multiple transitions between uplink anddownlink.

Example embodiments of the disclosed innovations have been describedabove. As noted above, it should be understood that the figures areprovided for the purpose of illustration and description only and thatvarious components (e.g., modules) illustrated in the figures above canbe added, removed, and/or rearranged into different configurations, orutilized as a basis for modifying and/or designing other configurationsfor carrying out the example operations disclosed herein. In thisrespect, those skilled in the art will understand that changes andmodifications may be made to the embodiments described above withoutdeparting from the true scope and spirit of the present invention, whichwill be defined by the claims.

Further, to the extent that examples described herein involve operationsperformed or initiated by actors, such as humans, operators, users orother entities, this is for purposes of example and explanation only.Claims should not be construed as requiring action by such actors unlessexplicitly recited in claim language.

1. A communication system comprising: an access point (AP) that providesconnectivity to a core network; a cluster of wireless communicationnodes that are installed at respective ground-based sites within a givengeographic region and are configured to operate as part of a wirelessmesh access network, wherein: each wireless communication node in thecluster is directly coupled to at least one other wireless communicationnode in the cluster via a respective node-to-node short-hopmillimeter-wave (mmWave) wireless link; at least one pair of wirelesscommunication nodes in the cluster are directly coupled to one anothervia a respective node-to-node long-hop mmWave wireless link; a firstwireless communication node in the cluster is directly coupled to the APvia a first node-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless link having a lengththat is no greater than a maximum length threshold at which a capacityof the first node-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless link is liable todegrade below an acceptable level when certain environmental conditionsare present; and a second wireless communication node in the cluster isdirectly coupled to the AP via a second node-to-AP long-hop, mmWavewireless link having a length that is greater than the maximum lengththreshold, wherein the second node-to-AP long-hop, mmWave wireless linkprovides additional capacity and reliability for exchanging trafficbetween the cluster and the AP at least during times when the certainenvironmental conditions are not present.
 2. The communication system ofclaim 1, wherein each of the first and second node-to-AP long-hop mmWavewireless links has a capacity that exceeds a capacity of any respectivenode-to-node long-hop mmWave wireless link.
 3. The communication systemof claim 1, wherein each of the first and second node-to-AP long-hopmmWave wireless links has a capacity of at least 10 gigabits per second.4. The communication system of claim 1, wherein each of the first andsecond node-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless links operates within anE-band frequency range.
 5. The communication system of claim 1, whereineach of the first and second node-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless linksoperates within frequencies ranging from 6 gigahertz to 100 gigahertz.6. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the maximum lengththreshold is a length within a range of 1-2 miles.
 7. The communicationsystem of claim 1, wherein the certain environmental conditions compriseone or both of rain or snow, and wherein: when the certain environmentalconditions are not present, traffic between the cluster and the AP isexchanged via both of the first and the second node-to-AP long-hopmmWave wireless links; and when the certain environmental conditions arepresent, traffic between the cluster and the AP is exchanged via onlythe first node-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless link.
 8. The communicationsystem of claim 1, wherein the AP is installed at a site that provides aline-of-site to the given geographic region.
 9. The communication systemof claim 1, wherein the first node functions to aggregate traffic fromone or more other nodes in the cluster and send the aggregated trafficover the first node-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless link.
 10. Thecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the second node functions toaggregate traffic from one or more other nodes in the cluster and sendthe aggregated traffic over the second node-to-AP long-hop mmWavewireless link.
 11. The communication system of claim 1, furthercomprising: a third wireless communication node that is directly coupledto a fourth wireless communication node of a first other cluster ofwireless communication nodes via a node-to-node mmWave wireless link.12. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the cluster is deployedin a first phase and a second phase, wherein the first phase comprises(i) installing the first and the second wireless communication nodes and(ii) establishing the first and the second node-to-AP long-hop mmWavewireless links, and wherein the second phase comprises (i) installingeach other wireless communication node in the cluster and (ii)establishing each respective node-to-node short-hop mmWave wireless linkand each respective node-to-node long-hop mmWave wireless link.
 13. Awireless communication node in a cluster of wireless communication nodesthat are installed at respective ground-based sites within a givengeographic region and are configured to operate as part of a wirelessmesh access network that is connected to an access point (AP), thewireless communication node comprising: a first set of communicationequipment for establishing a node-to-node millimeter-wave (mmWave)wireless link with a first other wireless communication node in thecluster; and a second set of communication equipment for establishing anode-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless link with the AP, wherein thenode-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless link has a length that is greaterthan a maximum length threshold at which a capacity of the node-to-APlong-hop mmWave wireless link is liable to degrade below an acceptablelevel during times when certain environmental conditions are present,wherein the wireless communication node is configured to: (i) exchangetraffic with the AP indirectly via the node-to-node mmWave wireless linkduring times when the certain environmental conditions are present and(ii) exchange traffic with the AP directly via the node-to-AP long-hopmmWave wireless link during times when the certain environmentalconditions are not present.
 14. The wireless communication node of claim13, wherein the node-to-node mmWave wireless link with the first otherwireless communication node comprises either (i) a short-hop mmWavewireless link or (ii) a long-hop mmWave wireless link.
 15. The wirelesscommunication node of claim 13, further comprising: a third set ofcommunication equipment for establishing a node-to-node mmWave wirelesslink with a second other wireless communication node in the cluster. 16.The wireless communication node of claim 13, wherein the maximum lengththreshold is a length within a range of 1-2 miles.
 17. The wirelesscommunication node of claim 13, wherein the node-to-AP long-hop mmWavewireless link provides additional capacity and reliability forexchanging traffic between the cluster and the AP at least during timeswhen the certain environmental conditions are not present.
 18. Thewireless communication node of claim 13, wherein the node-to-AP long-hopmmWave wireless link comprises a capacity of at least 10 gigabits persecond.
 19. The wireless communication node of claim 13, wherein thenode-to-AP long-hop mmWave wireless link operates within frequenciesranging from 6 gigahertz to 100 gigahertz.
 20. The wirelesscommunication node of claim 13, wherein the cluster is deployed in oneor more deployment phases, wherein the wireless communication node isinstalled during a first deployment phase, and wherein the wirelesscommunication node is configured to (i) establish the node-to-APlong-hop mmWave wireless link during the first deployment phase; and(ii) establish the node-to-node mmWave wireless link with the firstother wireless communication node during a second deployment phase.